Awake
by FloatingCloudBadger
Summary: Sirius volunteers to represent Andromeda's side of the family and babysit Dora. Remus/Sirius slash, though it's not graphic.


Sirius Black had woken up to sound of shouting once again. This time, however, it wasn't the shouting of his mother at him or his mother at his father – it was his mother shouting at what sounded like his cousin Andromeda.

Stretching, he dragged himself out of bed and started to go downstairs. He like Andy – he didn't want her to get hurt, and anyway, she must have been here for a reason. She wouldn't just turn up for tea.

By the time he reached the ground floor, however, the door had been slammed and he could only vaguely hear Andy shouting "Come on, Walburga, let me in!"

His mother seemed to have stormed off somewhere by that time, and so, glancing around quickly to check that Regulus wasn't skulking around somewhere, he pulled open the door to see Andy just starting to walk away.

"Andy!" he called, grinning as she turned around and running to hug his older cousin. "What are you doing here?"

Andy sighed, only half-heartedly returning the hug Sirius gave her. "Dora's starting to ask about my family," she said tiredly. "She's just turned three. I wanted her to at least meet someone – I've been to _everyone._ No one wants to know."

Now Sirius understood. This was always how it was – well, not for much longer (he was leaving here as soon as he turned 17), but even for the moment, this whole "blood traitor" thing pissed him off. Andy had done nothing wrong.

"Let me baby-sit her," he said, on impulse. "I'll represent your family."

He cringed internally as he realised how stupid he had sounded saying that, but Andy seemed pleased, and so Sirius didn't correct himself or vomit in disgust as being so soppy. He juts stood, grinning, as her face lit up.

It was nice, now he came to think of it, to have a family member that didn't hate him, and to have one that didn't believe in all this blood traitor stuff.

"Thank you, Sirius," she said happily, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

It was only when she had gone, however, that Sirius realised he had no idea how to baby-sit a three year-old.

* * *

><p>Remus Lupin awoke to the sound of his mum answering the door.<p>

"Oh, hello, Sirius," she was saying pleasantly. "What brings you here so early?"

Even though Remus couldn't see Sirius, he could tell that he was shifting uncomfortably, unused to kind mothers and questions asked with innocent intentions. "Can I see Remus please?" he heard him ask, quite politely.

Remus sighed, and started to drag himself over to the bathroom, where he managed to splash some water over his face, skoosh some mouthwash around and pull a comb through his hair while Sirius and his mother made small talk. He was just about to venture out into the hallway when his mother finally called – "Remus!"

He walked calmly out of the bathroom, a smile on his face, to meet Sirius at the front door. "Hey, Pad," he said softly, slowly leaning in to kiss him good morning - and though his Padfoot returned the kiss, there was none of his usual vigour about it.

"What's up?" asked Remus, looking at him through concerned eyes. "Has something happened?"

Sirius looked back at him, feeling slightly sheepish. "Moony," he said slowly, "how do you baby-sit someone?"

* * *

><p>Dora Tonks awoke to the face of her mother looking down at her in her crib – this wasn't exactly unusual, but what was unusual was that there was another face beside her, one with black hair and worried looking eyes.<p>

"Mama," she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Mama, who's he?"

Dora submitted quietly as her mother lifted her up and kissed the top of her head. "This is Uncle Sirius," her mother said softly. "He's going to look after you while me and Daddy are out. Is that alright, Dora?"

Unsure what to do, Dora nodded sleepily. Uncle Sirius seemed nice – and so she didn't protest as her mother passed her over to this new boy. That was fine. He maybe wasn't cuddling her as her mother did, but at least he was nice smelling. That was fine with Dora.

"Can we play?" she asked a moment later, looking up at him, starting to wake up. Her mother had gone, after reciting a list of instructions about her dinner and bedtime, and her and Uncle Sirius were left alone.

Looking slightly nervous, Uncle Sirius nodded. "What do you want to play?"

Dora considered. "Leprechaun tea party," she said brightly, after a minute, and then tried not to pout at the alarmed look on Uncle Sirius' face.

But, apparently seeing this, Uncle Sirius quickly said – "alright, alright. How do we play?"

It was only a few hours later that Uncle Sirius was completely exhausted – but luckily for him, so was his young playmate, who was now sleeping on the floor, surrounded by toy leprechauns and plastic teacups.

Sirius, however, was a little too shellshocked to do the same, though he very much would have liked to. He hadn't expected any of that _madness_ – after all, she was only a little girl! Remus had told him that he had to play along with whatever game she wanted to play, but he has thought it would just be a normal tea party, at the worst, and that he would have to dress up as a girl. He certainly hadn't expected _that_ weird and complicated game.

And though the evening should have completely shaken his faith in his ability to ever be a good father, as he planned to be one day, one thing was still keeping him confident – the thought that he would have Remus there alongside him.

**A/N – I was going to have Remus come along with Sirius to baby-sit, but then I remembered that he married Tonks and thought it would be a little weird… I do love Remius though. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Reviews are always welcome (hint).**


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